Ben Kaufman ’17 and Wyatt Smitherman ’16 debate what the Religious Freedom Restoration Act will mean for Indiana. Kaufman argues that the law will only allow for minority discrimination while Smitherman argues the bill is similar to many others, but would ultimately be better if replaced by At-Will contracting.

In the interest of increasing patient autonomy, opening the doors to true forms of euthanasia goes too far. Physician-assisted suicide, therefore, exists as the only viable option. Ethically indistinguishable (at worst) from current medical practices, dying with dignity needs to become a legally acceptable option for terminally ill people.

Stanford welcomes prospective freshmen for Admit Weekend 2013

Over 1,300 prospective freshmen (ProFros) arrived on campus yesterday for Admit Weekend 2013, which will offer ProFros and their relatives programming through Saturday.

This year’s Admit Weekend will feature several new events, including limited tours of the Bing Concert Hall, panels on the new Integrated Learning Environment (ILEs) science and art programs to be housed in Burbank, and discussions on the new graduation breadth requirements—called Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing—which the Class of 2017 will pilot.

According to Admit Weekend event coordinator Oswaldo Hasbún ’13, there was a slight increase in the number of registered ProFros over last year’s total. In 2011, The Daily reported 1,190 registered admits.

According to Marcus Alvarez ’16, head House Host (HoHo) for Casa Zapata, by last weekend the Weekend’s coordinators were reportedly in need of 400 more RoHos to accommodate all ProFros. By the end of the weekend that number had reportedly been reduced to about 250 after coordinators and HoHos started sending out messages to multiple mailing lists.

Alvarez added that HoHos and some RoHos have been asked to host more than one ProFro in case not enough students were recruited. Students were generally receptive to this request, which Alvarez framed as advantageous for busy RoHos.

“If you’re not able to stay with your ProFro the whole time, the Profro will have another buddy to stick with so they can be together and do whatever they want,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez said his own experiences with a busy RoHo during last year’s Admit Weekend inspired him to work as a HoHo this year.

“It’s a really important time. It’s when a lot of big decisions are made, and if we can show what’s Stanford’s like and show everything that’s good about it, we can help them choose what the best school is for them,” Alvarez said.

Dean of Freshmen Rob Urstein said that he looks forward to helping ProFros experience the wealth of resources available to them should they choose to matriculate at Stanford.

“The whole idea I think from our perspective…is to get students interacting with current students about what it’s like to be a student at Stanford and how they can access and take advantage of all the resources and opportunities that are here,” Urstein said.

“The more people students meet, whether it’s faculty or current students, the more perspectives they’re going to get,” Urstein added, emphasizing the value of diverse aspects of the Stanford experience. “We’re not all talking from a single script about what makes Stanford unique. The most important thing when students are choosing a school is that they are choosing a place where they are going to feel welcome and at home and the school choice is about a place where people can be themselves.”